My Voice 2015 provides a unique insight into the realities of life as a blind or partially sighted person in the UK today. This is the only survey of its kind . The findings are based on telephone interviews with over 1,200 participants from across the UK.

For many people, losing sight is not a one-off event. People lose sight gradually and experience a number of deteriorations in what they can see. This means that people may need support to learn and relearn how to adapt as their sight deteriorates, and this may be a considerable time after certification and registration.

Capturing the voices of the ‘Hard to reach’ report

In undertaking My Voice we were aware that not everyone who wanted to be part of the survey could participate in our standard telephone interviews. Those who also have hearing loss, live in care homes, who care for those with sight loss and other health needs or don’t speak English fluently are key groups and we wanted to find a way to capture these.

RNIB is there for everyone affected by sight loss, so it was important that the voices of these groups were also heard. ‘My Voice 2015: Capturing the voices of the ‘Hard to reach’’ reports on interviews with individuals who are in one, or more, of these groups.